Britten’s first Canticle
Op.40 was written in 1947 and entitled merely Canticle for high voice and piano. It was only later that it was
retitled Canticle I. Britten gave
the first performance with Peter Pears on 1st November 1947 at a
memorial concert for the Rev. Dick Sheppard, one of the founders of the Peace
Pledge Union. The words are by the seventeenth century poet, Francis Quarles,
and are partly taken from the Song of Solomon.

In many ways a celebration of Britten’s relationship with
Pears, the music portrays the merging of ‘…two little bank divided brooks…where
in greater current they conjoin.’ Ben Johnson has a lovely, characterful voice,
no mere imitation of Pears. When he sings ‘He is my altar, I his holy place’
Johnson brings a depth of voice and feeling that is mellow and controlled, yet
strong and rich. He is finely accompanied by James Baillieu in sensitive
playing where, in certain passages, there is almost a Debussian beauty.

Britten’s Canticle II
Op.51 (1952) was firstperformed
by Kathleen Ferrier, Peter Pears and Britten at the 1952 Aldeburgh Festival. At
this time Britten was working on his next opera Gloriana. A setting from the Chester Miracle play concerning
Abraham and Isaac, the Canticle can be performed equally well with a soprano,
boy treble or countertenor as in this recording. Certainly there is a more ethereal
sound to the opening using a countertenor and in this performance Ben Johnson and
countertenor Christopher Ainslie blend wonderfully. To my ears, there is a
strange anticipation of the War Requiem (I am thinking of the Libera me where the baritone sings ‘even
the wells sunk too deep for war.’). When Ben Johnson suddenly rises up alone he
is magnificent, then as they weave around each other they individually give beautiful
performances. Ainslie is never sterile but very characterful. Both bring out
the almost operatic flavour of the work. As tenor and countertenor join towards
the end, the effect is mesmerising after the very human sounds of both soloists
in the preceding part. The duet coda is beautifully done, so controlled and
sensitive.

Canticle III Op.55
(1954) was written three months after the premiere of Britten’s opera The Turn of the Screw. Britten had been
deeply moved by Edith Sitwell’s poem Still
Falls the Rain when John Amis asked him to write something for a memorial
concert for the brilliantly gifted pianist , Noel Mewton-Wood, who had given
the first performance of the revised version of Britten’s Piano Concerto. Mewton-Wood had taken his own life. Britten said to
Sitwell that he found ‘something very right for the poor boy’ in her verses.
Dennis Brain, himself tragically killed in a car crash only two years later, played
the horn part in the first performance.

As Canticle III opens, so ominous with piano and horn, we
are very much back to earth after the last Canticle. Ben Johnson enters,
bringing a feeling of controlled anxiety before sudden anger at the words ‘Christ
that each day, each night, nails there’. He manages the shift from anxious to
anger, brilliantly. It is how Johnson handles the subtle shift of emotions that
marks out this performance as special, if unsettling.

Mark Owen (horn) and James Baillieu (piano) handle the
difficult and sometimes spare textures of Britten’s writing exceptionally well.
It ends wonderfully with the tenor and horn blended superbly together, so much
so that the horn sounds almost like a countertenor.

Britten’s Canticle IV
Op.86 (1971), a setting of verses by T S Eliot, was first performed at the 1971 Aldeburgh Festival. Some
commentators remarked on the apparent simplicity of the setting, wondering if
it was merely written as a vehicle for James Bowman, Peter Pears and John
Shirley-Quirk. It was indeed written for them but this new work was more than
just a new vehicle for valued colleagues. The vocal writing is masterly though
the writing is spare and exceptionally difficult. It must be remembered that
this was Britten’s late period with his opera Death in Venice that would feature
roles for Peter Pears and John Shirley-Quirk.

In this performance the blending of countertenor, tenor and baritone,
in a kind of strict harmony, works exceptionally well, rising to operatic drama
as the Canticle progresses. It shows all three soloists to be ideally
characterful and in fine voice in this taxing vocal writing. How they pick up
on the text and leave off is brilliantly done. James Baillieu, who gives no
less a performance, brings the Canticle to a fine conclusion.

Britten had received cardiac treatment in early 1974 but by
August there was news that he had just completed his Canticle V Op.89 (1974), another setting of T S Eliot, his poem The
Death of Narcissus. Whilst some have linked Eliot’s Narcissus with Tadzio from
Death in Venice, it also seems plausible that the composer drew a comparison
with his own physically broken state.

This setting for tenor and harp is even more unsettling, not
only in the stark style of late Britten, but in the subject matter of the text.
Johnson manages to hold the line of music together in singing of exquisite
control and is sensitively accompanied by Lucy Wakeford (harp).

Inevitably people will want the Britten/Pears recording on
Decca. Pears’ voice has that distinctive quality that we all tend to associate
with Britten’s vocal works. Nevertheless, Johnson is superb in these works in
an excellent recording that will give endless pleasure.

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About The Classical Reviewer

The Classical Reviewer has been involved in music for many years, as a classical record distributor, as a newspaper concert reviewer and writer of articles relating to music as well as reviewing for Harpsichord and Fortepiano magazine.

He assisted in the cataloguing of the scores of the late British composer George Lloyd and has co-authored a memoir of his friendship with the composer.

Having a particular interest in British music, he regularly undertakes talks on Elgar.

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